What a gem!!! I have had an endless list of speakers route through my house over the years and I know that my search is finally finished! These babies just do nothing but make pure sweet music! It does everything right! There is nothing to analyze, critic or try to compare to. These are MY definitive answer to my on going "audio carrot".
I just brought these home from the pawn shop for $130 including tax! The grills are snagged and it could use some touch up on the speakers but when you listen to them everything else pales into insignificance! Anyone reading these reviews please allow me to tell you if opportunity arrives and you have access to these puppies, jump on it! Your whole system will come to life!
I am using an
Adcom 555MKII
Meridian 508.24(another keeper)
Holfi Pre 8
MIT spkr cables
MIT interconnect

My KEF reference 104/2 are serial numbers 3463 A//B. Don't know how long I have had these, a long time! I'm using a Yamaha 5250 HTR to drive my 104's. I plugged my Apple iPod Touch into the Yamaha and turned up the volume...Wow these speakers are still awesome. As I recall they were expensive when I originally bought them, but considering how long they have provided listening pleasure the price was very reasonable.

I haven't used the KEF's for many years. Jack "The Cat" has gotten used to sitting on top of the "B" speaker. The Cat is very confused, and a bit upset with all the noise coming from one of his favorite perches, but the noise is such beautiful music!. LOL

I bought my 104/2s back in the 80s, at a time when my retailer would credit full retail when swapping in speakers toward any speaker upgrade. So, every year, for a coupla hundred bucks I'd upgrade! But, after a few years, when it came time to swap in the KEF 104/2s ... Well, I just couldn't do it. Over the years since, I have auditioned a lot of different gear, but never found another set which sounds nearly so 'effortless.'

I tried both the Kube 100 and 200 with these, but found that a well-integrated sub (Velodyne for me) offered a better solution than either Kube, without the loss of imaging - I listen to a little of everything (except opera), and with an adequate sub, these KEFs will rock steady (You haven't heard "Stop Making Sense" or "Mass Romantic" until you've heard them on a pair of 104/2s!) Plus, I found that these were not nearly so 'touchy' about placement as most speakers - They are happy anywhere within a few feet of the back wall, and give an exceptionally wide horizontal sweet spot (although vertically, they drop off fast off-axis - I saw that someone here had put a 104/2 on its side as a center speaker, but it sure sems to me that would offer an awfully narrow horizontal dispersion).

Serial # on one of mine is 012239A, which (if they number in chrono order) looks to be one of the earlier sets posted here - I can't easily get behind the other one to check it, but they are the older model with the wooden grill frames. Incidentally, my foam surrounds are still in good shape after about 25 years' steady usage. I always kept the grills on, and they never had sunlight on their faces. No other maintenance except vacuuming out the bass cavity every few years, but I've heard there is some goop which will preserve rubber from deterioration (like 303 Aerospace does for vinyl - That stuff is a miracle) - If anyone knows of such, drop me a note?

I always knew that I adored these speakers, and my guests ALWAYS comment on them, but I never knew until now that they were 'legendary'! I recently picked up a KHT 9000 and stand to use as a center channel, and will post comments on that combo once I get it set up.

CC

My KEF collection composes of two pairs of 104/2 (serial number 002896A/B and 027630A/B) and a 200C for center channel. The sound quality of my two pairs are excellent and very consistent, one pair was built around 1986, one was built around 1993. In case, one pair goes off, I will still have another pair to use. For now, the two pairs works as my stereo speakers A+B and Surround sound's fronts and surrounds. 104/2 is best for classical music more on the granduer side such as Beethoven's 9th Symphony or Bitzt's Carmen and L'Arlesienne. It is also great for opera. I do not demand each speaker to perform exellently cross the full audio spectrum from 20 to 25K Hz. For surround's base, I compliment my them with Velodyne F-1200-B. For classical music, 104/2 is perfect in every way and every frequency range. I usually turn off my subwoofer. Simply let my pairs of 104/2 to perform out their best. For New Age, Jazz and Blue lovers, 104/2 is also great for your need and can live up to your expection and picky ears. Sorry, I don't play Rock and don't know how they perform to Rocks and their long term usage effect.

Many 104/2 have been used or set aside for years since they were introduced in the mid-80's and stopped 15 years ago. They are heavy and not suitable to be moved around. Many 104/2 out there may not be in ship shape. If someone has bad experience with 104/2, especially for those who bought it used, poor comment IS ad hoc and highly personally biased. For there are a wide fan base for 104/2, the demand is high. As result, they are made-shift and mis-matched pairs out there. I have seen a pair with wrong serial number and totally different wiring location. After years of good loving and caring, mine are still in excellent condition. I figure I can get extract another 20 years out of them or may be even longer!

I need to add the size of my room and the sound barrier arrangement to my equation of 104/2 performance. I have high ceiling and large room, ceiling to floor curtains. Spikes to my 104/2. All those contribute to the quality of sound. I haven't mention the size of my wires and receiver models. When reading audioreviews, one has to be careful to map out the whole story and fill in the missing pieces.

KEF 104/2 is indeed legendary has its own place in history. No matter what, beauty will age. Good TLC can slow that process. If you are reading my review before plannig to buy one, please make sure serial number matches with the same number followed by A and B for they were factory paired by KEF technician. The wire connecor is located 12" from the bottom. Exam the exterior carefully. Ask the seller to remove both unit's grill and visually check out tweeters. Never buy without listening to its sound. Bring with your own CD. If you don't know what CD to bring, try to take Karajan Berliner Philharmoniker's Bizet Carmen -Suite No. 1. The very first beat will tell you the quality of the speakers. The sound has to be clear, crispy and decisive!

Detailed and smooth

Can't drive extremely loud

I am listening to the new David Gilmour CD on my 104.2 Reference speakers I bought new in 1989 I believe. They are in my office driven by a Bryston 4Bst along with my old Sony 1000 ESD preamp and Velodyne ULD 15 Sub. It will fill up a 12'X16' room I can tell you. What detail and smooth mid's! They still almost compete with my B&W 802/805 home theater setup driven by Anthem P2/P5 at medium volumes. You can't drive the KEF's as hard as the B&W's but at lower volume they sometimes sound better with the same material. These should rank up at the top of the heap as far as bang for the buck. I don't think I will every get rid of these.

Customer Service

N/a

Similar Products Used:

B&W 805
B&W 802
B&W DS8s
Paradigm seismic 12" subs
P2 and P5 anthem
Anthem D2

***Natural sound = clear, detailed, smooth and cohesive on the entire frequency (no disconnection between the bass and mids for instance). ***Efficient = easy to match /sounds effortless. ***Best with voices, Jazz, accoustic, world...still excellent with everything else! ***easy positioning and can be few inches from the back walls (as opposed to 3 feet into the room like many speakers)

I'm not crazy about their look with the grills on. The Black casing around the mids & black vent would look nicer if in wood (instead of black). *** inner bass Woofers foams degrade over time (it doesn't seem to affect the sound though, the bass are still strong, fast and deep!)

After extensive comparison with used speakers (fully broken-in) retailing from $3000 to $5500 (Gershman, spendors, B&W, Harbeth... to name a few) I am stunned to say that I still prefer the Kef 104.2! Most speaker I tried excelled at one thing or another but none of them sounded as consistently Beautiful as the Kefs regarless of the associated equipment or music style.
Here are 3 combos I highly recommend:
1) VTL it-85 integrated tube amp / empirical Audio interconnect / Rega Jupiter CD / Z1 monster speaker cables (smooth / warm / detailed non-fatiguing sound. Great for Voices, Acoustic, Jazz and other small ensembles...)
2) Preamp Linn 5103 / Linn Chakra amp / Linn silver interconnect / Linn K400 speaker cables / connected via optical to good Transport of lossless library ( World class spooky transparency / imaging sound that fits all styles. Not as laid back as tubes but as revealing, fairly non fatiguing and warm for solid state)
3) Same set up as above with Linn Klout amp instead of the Chakra. ( effortless & dynamics "round" sound (as opposed to sharp). Less transparency than Chakra but plenty of finess in the details and some sweet deep bass. Never harsh or fatiguing, sounds great with everything, my preferred set up.
The Kefs are the only speakers able to consistently sound great on the above setups.
Those now very affordable speakers will bring much joy to the music lover.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Similar Products Used:

Rogers Ls3/5a. B&W P5, 705, 802, 803 III, 805. Celestion. Cabasse brick. Gershman RX20. Yamaha NS1000, CS635. Kef C40. Beolab 2500, 3, 4500. Beovox S75, M75, 3000. Harbeth Monitor 30. Spendor se5i. Totem Model 1, Avalon, Aelon Lotus, Audio Physics... ... ...

Everything, finish, looks (to me) solid build like a tank, sound tightness, imaging, what else is there, I like everything

OLD but that is what makes it special.

Wow what an amazing speaker set, almost 20 years old. Very detailed, not bright at all soundstage is so amazing you can stand behind the speaker and still enjoy the great sound. Very very impressed by these, but probably won't keep them long, the WAF is little they are boxy 80's look, although in real live especially after you feel how solid they are you appreciate and come to like the way they look. Very very solid speaker well worth the $800 I spent on it.

It did have rotting but the original owner of them had them replaced. Bass is very adequate and not overbearing just right.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

KEF 203 reference, IQ3, Cerwin Vegas AT12, POLK LSI,

Smooth, smooth, smooth. Like buttah.

Midrange is sweet. Highs--smooth. Bass: fast. Extension is good with the Kube.

Best strength: you can get these so cheap, that if you know someone who can do a COMPETENT restoration, you'll be into them less than a thousand. To get their level of performance, you'd have to spend as much as these cost new--adjusted for inflation. Even then, at a cool 3-4 thousand, you're shooting dice. With these KEFs you have a sure thing that will sound good as long as it's kept in proper order.

I've listened to a pair of Meadowlarks in that price range, and man, did they sound good. I suppose if I actually had $3500 to spend I'd go with something like that. But do they sound $2500 better than my KEFs? No way. These babies have got "it." Totem, Vienna, Sonus Faber, JMLab, B&W, Martin Logan, Dynaudio, and a host of others have approaches to sound that are highly competent and capable of outdoing these KEFs.

But do it for under $1000? You're dreaming.

Unless the pair you find has been previously restored, you WILL NOT find an original pair capable of lasting, and the pair you do find will need restoration in order to sound right. Men capable of doing this work are hard to come by, but you must have the job done in order to achieve the sound these speakers are capable of.

It is well worth the effort and expense, but be advised it's going to be expensive.

Think of it as similar to buying a '59 Cadillac or a '60s Corvette. The previous owner may have prized it and given it the best of care--but its upholstery, hoses, belts, brake lines, seals, gaskets, chrome, body...all have deteriorated with age and must be gone through and renewed for your classic to achieve its former glory. But if you do the work right, you have something even more special that it was when it was new.

That's what it's like to own a classic.

I'm a musician. I'm very particular about how my music sounds.

That said, I haven't upgraded anything in my audio chain for over ten years now, and the last thing I did upgrade was my Marantz receiver (to a newer Marantz).

I hear of all this dough being spent on Wadia this and Jolida that, and honestly. I have an Ah! Tjoeb CD player and a Marantz receiver, connected together with competent Kimber interconnects. My KEFs are connected to the receiver via better Kimber as well.

Before my KEFs, the Ah! was the most astounding upgrade I'd ever made to my system. It replaced an old Kyocera CD player that was beginning to get quirky. The Ah! is a hot-rodded Marantz--look at its front panel and it looks cheap. But the output of this CD player is a pair of Amperex Bugle Boys that sound oh so sweet. Your CDs never sounded so good.

Imagine my shock when, after purchasing my KEFs and having all cones restored and the things brought to factory specifications. I was already getting beautiful sound from my Q50s. But I wanted a KEF from the KEF classic era, and when these became available at such a reasonable price, I decided on a full restoration.

I'm telling you. You can have a simple Tjoeb CD player, a rather mundane Marantz receiver, and a sub-$1000 (restored) pair of 104/2's and if the cabling's right, you will be in heaven. I've got friends with thousands invested in their stereos. Mine just sounds better. Period. I'm sure, if I went for a good belt drive table with an excellent cartridge, then a good phono preamp and awesome control and amplification, I could get far better sound than out of my sub-$1000 Marantz receiver.

But my stereo sounds so great right now. I believe the thousands I would spend for such small sonic benefits would make me more sad than glad. What's the phrase? Oh, yeah.

Less is more.

More than five stars for both value and overall.

Customer Service

Expensive, but worth it.

Similar Products Used:

KEF, KEF, KEF, NHT, M&K, JBL, Altec. I do like my classic speakers.

Incredible accuracy, imaging, durability.

Require adequate amplifier power.
Fussy about location for accurate imaging.
Occasional problems with resonance in grills.

In 1986, I was a young and budding audiophile (23years old), with a low budget. I attended a Hi-Fi show in Adelaide, Australia, which is where I was living at the time. In hand I had a copy of Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene'. Traversing the various audio manufacturers rooms, I heard many sound systems and speakers that sounded 'good' to me, but as I passed the listening room that housed the newly released KEF104/2's, I was immediately drawn in by something different. I sat down, completely mesmerized by the clarity and realism right through the audio spectrum, and by the imaging and definition of these magnificent speakers. I asked the rep to put my CD on, and he did – I immediately heard my current favourite album like never before, including its faults. I was sold, but could simply not afford the speakers.

Later that year, while I was in Cantebury, U.K., I called the Kef factory and asked if I could have a tour. One of the factory managers took me on a comprehensive two hour tour of the factory, in which I saw every stage in the making and testing of these speakers. Every single component that went into a Kef reference speaker at that time was tested. For example, I remember seeing a woman at a work-station testing every single resistor for the reference range. My guide told me that the failed resistors were still ‘gold-standard’ tight, but that that only the absolute tightest components were passed for the reference units, the rest being passed off to the more standard lines. Every single component of the speakers was made and tested individually, the most compatible units being paired for assembly into matched systems. Once assembled, speakers were individually placed in an anechoic chamber, and all their specs recorded on a computer. This data was used for final matching of the pairs, which is why 104/2’s were sold as matched pairs. The level of commitment to quality in the reference-series factory was like nothing I’d ever seen before, or since. It was an honour to see such committed people making every effort to achieve perfection.

I bought my pair of 104/2’s in U.K., after my tour of the factory, and exported them to Australia myself. I also purchased a 104/2 Kube while I was in the U.K, and have never looked back. The speakers give virtually flawless performance as is confirmed by many other reviewers on this site. Their bass response is tight and accurate, not boomy and muffled. Having four small bass drivers in isolated cabinets designed specifically and painstakingly for low resonance and accuracy cannot be underestimated. Mid and high end response is absolutely clean and accurate, due partly to the solid, resonance free, cageless system employed for mounting mid’s and the tweeters. The crossover networks are painstakingly designed to present the power amp with a flat 4 ohm load, thus avoiding the typical fluctuations that often occur when a speaker (particularly a bass driver) is driven hard. Later, when I could afford the upgrade, I added a Luxman M-03 power amp to the system, and a Lexicon pre. I’ve never looked back, and consider these speakers, to my ears at least, to be among the best I’ve ever heard right up to this day.

I now live in the wilderness in northern Canada, in a scribed log home that is about as solid as you can hope for. The 104’s are positioned carefully in a large (20x24ft) room with cathedral ceiling. Here, they simply come into their own. Low-end bass rumbles through the floor – you can literally feel it in your bones. Imaging is sharp, so sharp that you can literally visualize the sound stage.

Around two years ago, I decided it was time to begin composing electronic/ambient/psychadelic music – my passion – under the moniker Fornequiem (www.myspace.com/fornequiem). I purchased a studio and set it up with typical studio monitors. Recordings are all made at high resolution (24bit/48-96khz), with a direct digital feed to my main listening room (described above) for auditioning. I began noticing, as I was reaching the final mixing stage of album production, that I wasn’t achieving the sonic balance I wanted from my studio monitors, and last year I decided to search out a second pair of 104’s for my studio. I found a good pair on E-Bay for $1000, and purchased them along with a NAD 2400 amp. This has made a world of difference to my production, and I think it is clearly reflected in the sonic quality of my second album, Gondwana. However, due to the size of these speakers, I’ve had to make changes to my studio that are not reflected in the current recordings. I am now in the composition stage of my third album, in the new studio, and I’m getting astounding results. I intend to really take my time with this one, as the first two are now taking care of themselves, albeit a niche-market. I'm not fully decided on how to go about producing my next album, but am thinking of releasing it on a DvD instead of Cd, because I really hear a difference in the 24bit/48khz format. I'm also thinking about instructing my mastering engineer to strictly limit compression next time around, in order to take advantage of the dynamic range available. We'll see, its a long way off.

In summary, I love my Kef 104/2’s. I don’t ever see a reason to change, and recommend these speakers to anyone with ‘fussy’ ears.

Similar Products Used:

Reference 104 centre speaker for surround.
Kef C40's as rear surround speakers.

Unmatched high end. Incredibly detailed and balanced mid range down through ~60Hz.

Non-existant deep bass.

I bought my first pair of Kef 104/2's in 2002 from a private seller that had picked them up at an Estate sale. I had never heard a pair in person but was intrigued at how often speaker reviews (in publications and postings) referred to these "legendary" Kef's and figured it was worth the 2 hour drive to check them out. The audition took place in a dusty old basement, driven off a tapedeck/receiver combo with something liky 5 heavily distorted watts. They sounded horrible but I took a gamble and negotiated the seller down to $300 for the pair.

When I got them home, I was further disappointed in how ugly they were - can you say screaming 80's blockiness? I had been using a pair of B&W Concept 90 spearkers (similar to Matrix 805) with which I was quite smitten. I figured the Kef's could play as rear fill but felt I ought to give them a shot in side by side comparison to the B&W's. Two words: BLOWN AWAY. I wanted to dislike the Kef's being a bit of a B&W fanboi; plus the Bowers and Wilkins speakers looked some much nicer. I just could not deny it - these Kef's were showing me something I hadn't hear before. To this day, I cannot get over how PERFECTLY smooth and natrual the mid and high range sound; the only way I can describe it is to say that they just make you realize how inferior many other speakers can be. The bottom end had a nice kick but definitely left something to be desired (more on this later). Needless to say, my pretty B&W's were relegated to backup duty after this trial.

I recently picked up a second pair of Kef 104/2's for $500 for a matched 4 way system (awesome for multichannel SACD!). I use the highly regarded Kef 100c as a center channel but honestly it just pales in comparison to the big boys and greatly colors the sound; good thing I use it for movies only. I intend to find a single 104/2 at somepoint and lay it horizontally as a center.

I have the set mated to a Velodyne ULD-15 and the two go together SO well. The Kef's aforementioned weakness in the bottom end simply melts away. I recently auditioned a friend's Nautilus 801's and the sound is surprisingly comparable - certainly not quite as good on the mid and low end but I prefer the high end on my setup. Not bad for a speaker rig costing less than a thousand dollars.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

B&W 6 Series, Matrix 8 Series, Nautilus 8 Series, and Concept 90.
Kef Q Series, Kef Reference Series
Dynaudio Contour Series